New Church Society website and blog
Church Society in the UK have just re-launched their website.
“Over the past few months, Church Society has been through a process of rebranding which has gone to the heart of who we are and what we do.”
As well as a new look, there’s now a blog with weekly features – the first one is Formulary Friday (“Every Friday, we consider an aspect of the formularies of the Church of England: that is, the 39 Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.”).
As Church Society Director Lee Gatiss says, the need for theological clarity in the Church of England has never been greater.
– See it all here, and you can also subscribe to their RSS feed.
‘Vicar defends Church of England same-sex blessings ban’
From this weekend, same sex marriage will be legal in England and Wales.
During the week, BBC TV interviewed Steven Hanna, Vicar of St. Elisabeth’s of Becontree in London. He speaks clearly and graciously about the key issues. Watch the 7 minute interview here. (h/t Adrian Reynolds.)
‘815 in Transparent move to punish Fort Worth’
“Episcopalians in non-litigating parishes and dioceses should be asking: Why the silence? Why is 815 being allowed to run amok with the Church’s precious resources? Who is really in charge? Where are those who helped put the Presiding Bishop into power, and who will act now to curb her irrationality and her grasping at straws?”
– A S Haley, the Anglican Curmudgeon (and lawyer), takes a look at the latest Episcopal Church legal manoeuvrings.
GAFCON Chairman calls for Repentance, not Indaba
“The need for repentance, without which we cannot have true unity, is obscured when the authority and clarity of Scripture come into question.
Sadly, this is the inevitable result of the Continuing Indaba project. By assuming that all differences are matters of context and interpretation, it becomes a way of affirming a false gospel. Much of its funding comes through the Episcopal Church of the United Sates.
We see here the repetition of a subtle and ancient strategy. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent says to Eve ‘Did God really say…’ (Genesis 3:1) and the consequences are tragic. By grace, we have been rescued from the power of death and sin. So how then can we once more set ourselves above its truth, we who are a made a new creation through hearing and obeying the Word of God?
I do therefore need to make an important clarification. Contrary to the claim made on the website of the London Anglican Communion office that there is a Kenyan ‘Resource Hub’ for Continuing Indaba, neither the Anglican Church of Kenya nor any of its learning institutions are participants in this project. We are strongly committed to the work of reconciliation within the Church and within civil society, but the gospel ministry of reconciliation is given to us by God and must not therefore compromise the Word of God. …”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council writes in his March 2014 Pastoral Letter. Read it all here.
Diocese of South Carolina ‘joins Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans’
“The Diocese of South Carolina has been formally recognized as a member in good standing of the Global Anglican Communion.
On Saturday, March 15, the Diocese’s 223rd Annual Convention unanimously accepted an invitation to join the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GFCA) and temporarily enter into a formal ecclesiastical relationship known as provisional primatial oversight from bishops in the Global South. Read more
Remembering Leon Morris on the Centenary of his birth
Australian theologian Leon Morris was born one hundred years ago this weekend – on March 15th 1914.
The current Principal of Ridley College Melbourne, Dr, Brian Rosner, has a tribute. (Photo: Ridley College.)
If you are not familiar with the writings of Leon Morris, you can read three articles on the Church Society website:
The Person of Christ (1960).
The Authority of the Bible Today (1961, PDF file).
Christian Worship (1962, PDF file).
And if you can obtain a copy (and especially if you have some Greek), take the time to read his The Apostolic Preaching of The Cross – The Tyndale Press, London, 1955) – an enormously important book still today.
That book “is an attempt to understand certain key words, words which are crucial to the New Testament picture of the atonement, by seeing them against the background of the Greek Old Testament, the papyri, and the Rabbinic writings. Armed with our discoveries, we then proceed to examine them in their New Testament setting…” – from the Preface to the First Edition.
Update: Sandy Grant has just published this at The Briefing.
U. S. Supreme Court Denies Falls Church Petition
“The order list published this morning by the United States Supreme Court shows that, after relisting the case for its conferences four times, it has denied certiorari (review) in No. 13-449, The Falls Church v. Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, et al.”
– A S Haley, The Anglican Curmudgeon, with bad news for The Falls Church in Virginia.
Church of Pakistan college Principal says he was beaten, told to leave
“The Principal of Edwardes College in Peshawar, Pakistan, has revealed he was beaten by ‘intelligence agents’ who destroyed his visa and warned him to leave the country…”
– Story from the Anglican Communion News Service.
Pilgrimage to mark Marsden Bicentenary
“Anglican bishop Kelvin Wright will not be just walking when he makes a 27-day pilgrimage around his huge Dunedin diocese this month to commemorate the bicentenary of the first Christian sermon preached in New Zealand…”
– Story from The Otago Daily Times. Photo: Anglican Taonga.
An Atheist becomes an evangelist… sort of
“Last week, sitting in a little pub in Dorset and about to sip my pint of Doombar, I was approached by the local vicar. He’d officiated at my daughter’s wedding last year and knew I was a Green, although he probably doesn’t know I’m an atheist.
He asked me if I had heard of the Diocese of Salisbury’s initiative called ‘Carbon Fast’…
I’ve never thought of myself as an evangelist, but now it suddenly makes sense.”
– Jenny Jones writes in The Telegraph.
More on the Carbon Fast here. And some thoughts from the Apostle Paul here and here.
‘Bishop’s consecration: The power of sacred objects’
“The Anglican diocese of New Westminster… will install its new bishop at 1 p.m. Saturday in an elaborate centuries-old ceremony set in a contemporary West Coast urban culture. …”
– The Vancouver Sun previews this weekend’s consecration of Melissa Skelton.
A Statement Concerning the Consecration of Rev Dr Sarah Macneil in the Anglican Diocese of Grafton
Here’s a Statement from ACL President, The Rev. Gavin Poole:
“On 1 March 2014 the Anglican diocese of Grafton will consecrate its new Bishop. The consecration will be hailed as ‘historic’ as she will be the first female diocesan Bishop in the Anglican Church of Australia.
The fact that the diocesan Bishop will be a woman is of concern, especially considering there has been no publicly available provision by the Grafton diocese for those who cannot in good conscience accept her episcopal ministry. The matters raised in this document however are of more grave concern. …”
Read the full text – or download it – below – Read more
GAFCON Chairman’s February 2014 pastoral letter
“When we met for GAFCON 2013 here in Nairobi last October, we drew inspiration from the living tradition of the East African Revival, a movement of the Spirit that led the churches of this region back to a new love for the Lord Jesus and a new obedience to the Scriptures as the Word of God.
The authenticity of the Revival was demonstrated in times of persecution, including Uganda under the regime of Idi Amin. Earlier this month my brother Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, gathered with thousands of people at Mucwini, Kitgum, for the 34th commemoration of the martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum who was murdered at the hands of Idi Amin on 16th February 1977.”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala’s full letter may be read at the GAFCON website.
Statement from the Global South Primates Steering Committee, Cairo, February 2014
“…we believe that we have to make every effort in order to restore our beloved Communion. Therefore we took the following decisions:
a) We request and will support the Archbishop of Canterbury to call for a Primates Meeting in 2015 in order to address the increasingly deteriorating situation facing the Anglican Communion. It is important that the agenda of this Primates Meeting be discussed and agreed upon by the Primates beforehand in order to ensure an effective meeting.
b) We decided to establish a Primatial Oversight Council, in following-through the recommendations taken at Dromantine in 2005 and Dar es Salam in 2007, to provide pastoral and primatial oversight to dissenting individuals, parishes, and dioceses in order to keep them within the Communion. …”
– Read the full statement here at Global South Anglican.
Pastoral Guidance from the C of E concerning Same Sex Marriage
The Church of England House of Bishops has issued a Letter and Statement offering Pastoral Guidance on Same Sex Marriage.
“Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
We write as fellow disciples of Jesus Christ who are called to love one another as Christ has loved us. Our vocation as disciples of Christ in God’s world is to hold out the offer of life in all its fullness. God delights always to give good gifts to his children.
The gospel of the love of God made known to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest of these gifts. The call of the gospel demands that we all listen, speak and act with integrity, self discipline and grace, acknowledging that as yet our knowledge and understanding are partial.
As members of the Body of Christ we are aware that there will be a range of responses across the Church of England to the introduction of same sex marriage. As bishops we have reflected and prayed together about these developments. As our statement of 27th January indicated, we are not all in agreement about every aspect of the Church’s response. However we are all in agreement that the Christian understanding and doctrine of marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman remains unchanged. …”
Updated with these comments:
“Anglican Mainstream appreciates and affirms the clear and unequivocal statement that the Christian understanding and doctrine of marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman remains unchanged. We are grateful for the assurance that the idea of same sex marriages being solemnized in C of E churches in future is not supported by the Bishops. …”
– Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream.
“… The credibility of this pastoral guidance will, I fear, be very quickly tested. How these things are handled in practice will determine and define the Church’s stance on the issue, more than well-intentioned words. It will be difficult for the bishops to implement their guidance in the face of the intense lobbying they will face, and we must pray for them and support them in any way we can as they seek to carefully shepherd the flock.”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…